Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum suffered a potentially serious injury in the fourth quarter of Boston’s loss to the Knicks in Game 4 of their series on Monday night.
Tatum was carried off the court after injuring his right leg on a non-contact play, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps reports. Tatum took an awkward step near the top of the key and crumpled to the floor. He was unable to put any weight on the leg as he was helped off the court.
The exact nature of the injury is unclear, but it’s feared that it may involve his Achilles tendon and/or ankle. He’ll undergo an MRI on Tuesday.
“It’s tough to see a guy like him get carried off,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The Celtics fell behind 3-1 in the series, but veteran big man Al Horford was more concerned about his fallen teammate.
“The loss is the loss. More importantly it’s Jayson I’m worried about,” Horford said, per Weiss (Twitter link).
New York rallied for a 121-113 win despite Tatum’s efforts. He racked up 42 points, eight rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocks.
Tatum’s five-year, designated veteran extension worth approximately $314MM kicks in next season.
Non contact never good, acl maybe. Rather him be in when Knicks hopefully finish them.
It is the Achilles…he wasn’t grabbing knee.
Damm these injuries.
By the way he was acting in the wheelchair, gotta be an achilles tear. See you in 2026 man.
Although he’s younger than Lillard with the likely achilles, he’s probably out for at least half of next year, and that’s optimistic. This one looked worse than Lillards.
My first thought was, he ain’t playing at all next year. Back in 26-27.
It could be a calf injury.
It isn’t. I snapped my Achilles the same exact way. Everything that happened to Tatum happened to me, but I never saw it from another person’s perspective.
Same thing. Nobody around, after a quick transition from O to D, made a step forward, Bam, lose all support in the leg, fell on my face, pain, pain, disbelief and Pain.
I was talking to the guys on the floor after and trying to move my foot and it would not move. Some guy said Achilles, and I was in shock and denial.
Same thing.
I hope you are correct, but it’s an Achilles injury and Boston is now in rebuild.
Tatum will be back, his game is not dependent on his athletic ability, but he is done for a while.
Now the front office does have decisions to make. Tatum will be out a long time. Hardly worth spending is it.
Yeah, Porzingis and Hauser gonna be looking over their shoulder.
For real. Ruthless but, is what it is. Tatum ain’t playing next season.
Kinda jumping the gun aren’t you Sparky. Pain severity isn’t always an indication of how much damage there is. An ankle sprain can cause you to use language that sends you to go to confession for 3 weeks. But, you are able to run a marathon after those 3 weeks. Whereas, you might feel fine after a bump on the head, but dead 3 hours later. Wait for the MRI results and diagnosis.
That was no ankle sprain
@Giants…
All that rhetoric and it’s still the Achilles
I haven’t seen any results announced. You can diagnose an injury through the TV screen.
It was an Achilles injury Sparky
Let’s all wait for the Xrays and MRI results
Hate to see it end like this. These playoffs are one to remember for bad luck man. …. Zuxxxx
Get well Tatum ….. hooe its not serious.
Only one thing to do now …. Get another DOUBLE U .or like my hater buddy calls it a fluke.
One more fluke and its gone fishing ….
Gives the new owners the reason they wanted to cut some salary. Now they will get rid of the old guys in Al and Jrue. Maybe have Brown rest more and figure out his knee issue. They can mini tank which is hard in the East so likely still be a playoff team.
Tatum is young enough to bounce back at some point. His contract is newer so he is secure enough to wait for full recovery. His game has never been all about his athleticism.
No one is touching the Brown contract.
No one said anything about Brown’s contract.
They were having to cut salary no matter what due to the new CBA restrictions that go into effect next season.
The Warriors have just been carried off the court too. The whole team on a stretcher ……
Again we can blame Kuminga for not putting up 40 like Steph would ……….. what will we cry about today ……. All together now … Waaaaaaaaaaaaa
Ohhhh…….waaawaaawaaaaaawaaaaaaaaaaawe
WARRIORS fans now seeing the passive Jimmy that Riles didn’t want to pay.
You have a lot of class Al.., too bad it’s all third.
You know what this isn’t even a warriors article but you have some kind of agenda and vendetta against Warriors fans.
I thought it was funny. I don’t care about any team but one. Its 3-1 thats a stretcher lol.
But with all that said, I will still say congratulations to New York for going up 3-1.
Looks like they were focused on getting a victory with Tatum on the floor or not. Nice win tonight and maybe they can close it out next game?
Good job by the players, especially Brunson with his clutch shooting and also the coaching staff With mixing in the defensive guys and the offense not suffering. Great job.
Imo Knicks lucked out by Celtics arrogance. They don’t respect Knicks. So gave up gm 1. Then Knicks took gm2. Still Celtics believe they are better. And Knicks batvh up. This is the game they finally proved they are real. Truth is this is a combination of Knicks finally showing up. And Celtics getting caught at right time. No KP, Jrue was banged up. Knicks are a better team today. Than during season. Celtics got caught looking ahead imo. I said it plenty times. You must respect your opponent to beat your opponent. Knicks are getting better at right time. Bridges has never played well against Celtics. Especially at home till playoffs. Always one gm at a time. Time to close this out. No Tatum you have to end it now.
Knicks have listened to a lot of smack for yrs. You can take a little for Warriors.
Knicks built this roster specifically to deal with the Celts.
Or Holiday was injured, Brown was injured and KP had a virus for 3 months.
Delusions. I wonder, when Brunson goes down next game, will the Knick have an excuse?
Knicks can spin it anyway they want. Celtics were tired and injured. Nobody underestimated NY, the Majority of their starting lineup has played almost 2 full seasons without a rest.
Mazzula is a terrible coach and will probably be fired soon.
Looks like someone spends way too much time on the internet. Maybe you should take a breather.
Windy, I appreciate it. I think you’re right. Can’t sleep after that loss.
Atleast Mazzulla sent out the trainers this time.
Depending on the scenario the trainers can’t just go out there. Mavs got a technical for going out to Kyrie.
So nobody dropped 40 in his absence?
Sad news. My sincere best wishes for a full recovery!
Hope the ink hasn’t dried on the paperwork to buy the team
Yeah, cuz Tatum getting injured just devalued the price of the franchise.
What?
An achilles tear, I read takes up to a year. Reports are that’s what it is. Hate to talk about next yr when this one isn’t over yet. So I’m hoping the MRI has good news. Celtics still good enough to be a solid playoff team. They will need a healthy KP.
6-9 month of no movement with the tendon, up to 1 year of rehab.
It depends, I broke mine at 25. I was playing full speed by 27 and I was in a pretty competitive league in LA with former D1 guys and NBA guys like C. Mobley by 30.
I was never the same, but I relied heavily on the little athletic ability I had. I am also only 6’4″ and not 6’9″. Tatum will be fine. he will be much different, but fine. He is too skilled to disappear and not be an all star again. I changed and became a shooter/passer v. what I was before. I tell people I play with now, you should have seen me before the surgery. And its true. Completely different players now.
This Celtic team is done. KP has to be moved asap. He is just not reliable. Probably giving up a pick to dump his contract.
My injury was a fluke. Nobody, none of my doctors could believe I broke my tendon at 25. After some research and talking with many doctors, we figured out that during those years, I was just out of law school and working, but playing 5-6 times a week, doubles on weekends, that my leg, my primary leg, got fatigued and just gave out.
I think this is what happened to Tatum. He played 1 full season, playoffs, Olympics, then another full season without much rest. His legs were probably fatigued.
This will cause more stars to sit out.
Thanks for this comment. Shine’s a little light and personal experience and the reality of this horrible injury.
LA basketball is no joke. When I was working in Gardena, I’d pull up in Inglewood and over in Del Aire at lunch they had some good runs.
But the best was midnight basketball close to Wilson Park in Torrance in a industrial building turned into a gym.
Same team of four dudes picked me up every week because I set picks, defended my guy, and didn’t shoot lol. They loved me. Of course I didn’t dare dribble and rebounds were out of the question. The ball was snatched out of the air before I could even think about going for it. Lol good times !!
Late night hoops in LA was awesome. I have kids now, but I would have a lot of fun balling at midnight in Venice.
I do miss that a lot.
Oh wow Venice, yeah, one of the top spots in the entire country. You put your name down on the list held by the guy with white hair and only one ear. Three hour wait.
Best memory is coming up with a team from San Diego, all college guys, finally getting on the court and losing our one and only game.
Our best shooter missed two threes in a row and I got the rebound and he called for a third try. I said, screw that, dribbled out to the three-point line myself and nailed it lol.
But then a former LA clipper scored the next time down and I distinctly remember his left forearm in my throat and he easily laid it up with his right and we were out of commission. Couple more trips down the floor and it was over. Again, good times !!
Hate to see it happen to anyone at any time but especially a guy that’s a status of a Jayson Tatum. It’ll be a long and grueling process with extensive recovery but he can do it. Good Luck on surgery and rehabbing.